


Lost and Found

by Worldclassbeauty



Series: Kindred souls- verse [5]
Category: The Wilds (TV 2020)
Genre: F/F, Family Fluff, Female Bonding, Female Friendship, Found Family, Mentions of conversion therapy, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 03:16:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29910621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Worldclassbeauty/pseuds/Worldclassbeauty
Summary: Shelby's suitcase is found.
Relationships: Shelby Goodkind/Toni Shalifoe
Series: Kindred souls- verse [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2128383
Comments: 7
Kudos: 129





	Lost and Found

They were on day 30- something at this point, Nora knew for sure, but no one really cared anymore. The girls had fallen into an almost domestic routine by now. Chores, food and, talks by the fire. Even thought none dared to say it, it was beginning to feel like home.

Fatin was the one to have a day off while the others worked, her supply of goods from her suitcase had long since run dry and she was feeling a bit on edge. She knew that she wasn’t useless per say, but her specific skillset, like being able to play WAP on cello, wasn’t in high demand on the island. So she began exploring a bit, sure a small part of it was mind-numbing boredom, but she had gotten lucky with the waterfall and might get lucky again, _inshallah_.

She had wandered around for maybe an hour and a half, when she spotted the pink and white suitcase in the water. She sawm out to get it, cursing the entire way at having to get wet.

Once she had dropped it on the sand, she examined it a bit. It was baby pink with three white stripes. So it wasn’t Toni’s, Dot’s, Rachel’s or Leah’s. That left Shelby, Nora and Martha.

Then she saw it and couldn’t help but laugh. The tag on the case read “Deuteronomy 31:8 – The Lord himself will go before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forget you. Don’t be afraid and don’t worry.”

Shelby then.

Fatin lugged the surprisingly heavy suitcase back to camp. The girls cheered at the find.

Shelby, who had been on water boiling duty, approached Fatin and the suitcase but before she could fully reach it Fatin pulled it away.

“Oh no honey, we are having a quiz night about the content of this” She proudly proclaimed.

Shelby let out a deep breath and put on a forced smile.

“That’s fine Fatin, just let me get one thing and it’s all yours” she tried kindly. Her plea fell on deaf ears.

“okay so how are we doing this?” Leah asked.

“How about we guess?” Martha suggested.

“But wouldn’t we just guess regular things to win then?” Rachel replied. 

“How about we do a round where we guess one thing each, it cant be clothes, and Shelby tells us if its true or not” Toni suggested.

“Pecan nuts from the small farm outside of Brady” Dot guessed.

“A travel sized bible” was Nora’s guess.

“reading glasses” Said Leah who had noticed Shelby squinting her eyes and moving the notebook as she tried to read Nora’s timetable of the tides.

“Tampons?” Rachels guess was more a hopeful request.

“Please for the love of God, a vibrator” Fatin guessed, much to the amusement of the other girls.

But Shelby could be a professional gambler based on the quality of her poker face.

“Socks?” Martha said.

All the girls booed at her and Shelby laughed.

“A book?” Martha guessed again.

“How is that different than the bible?” Nora asked with a light laugh.

But the girls ended up allowing it.

They all looked at Toni, who was the only one not to guess yet.

Toni looked at Shelby, with the kind of love we all hope to find.

“A picture of your friends at home” The way Toni said it, it wasn’t a guess. Shelby felt like Toni might as well have been there when she packed.

“So the guesses are as following… Nuts, bible, glasses, tampons, vibrator, a book and a picture” Dot summarized.

“Let’s open this bitch up and look” Fatin clapped her hands and was about to reach down to unzip the suitcase.

“Don’t you want me to check your answers first?” Shelby said a bit on edge for some reason.

“…Or we could just take a look” Fatin countered.

“Where’s the fun in that?” Shelby argued.

“Why not let Shelby do it? She can find the item and hold it up” Leah suggested feeling the need to keep the peace.

Shelby took Fatin spot and unzipped the case, the rest of the girls unable to see inside.

Shelby looked down at the life that was represented in the suitcase, she looked at the book and the sealed plastic envelope. She moved a sweatshirt over it.

“first item is… a pair of reading glasses” Shelby admitted winking at Leah.

Her vision wasn’t bad and compared to the dentures it felt insignificant.

The girls cheered as Shelby briefly put on the glasses to show off, she winked at Toni who blushed.

“Any tampons?” Rachel asked when the girls had settled again.

Shelby shook her head.

“Only pads, my mom believes that tampons are sinful”

“Weirdly that makes sense” Rachel replied, still thankful for the pads at the very least.

“How about me? Was I right?” Dot asked excited.

Shelby gave her a big smile before pulling a 4-pound bag of pecan nut which made the girls cheer for real this time. Shelby also revealed a dozen Raw-Bite Protein bars which she had packed along with the nuts for a healthy snack.

“Unfortunately for Fatin I do not own a vib…a personal massager, so no points for Fatin” Shelby announced with a blush.

Fatin booed while the rest of the girls laughed at the two.

“Nora, my sweet, there also isn’t a bible in here either. No points for Nora” Shelby said.

She then showed the girls her framed picture of her and Becca, it was from their last time at bible camp, before Becca’s hospitalization. Shelby said that the girl had been her best friend, something in her voice must have kept the girls from asking questions because none of them did. Shelby caught Dot’s eyes as she looked at the photo, it was clear that she recognized Becca, they had had Geography together since 7th grade. Toni was glad that she got to see a picture of the girl who had meant so much to Shelby. Becca was beautiful and looked so warm and kind in the photo as she smiled at Shelby. Toni also smiled a bit at the realization that her girlfriend had a type. 

“No books?” Martha asked breaking the silence.

“Nope, sorry Martha” Shelby lied with a fake smile.

The girls went back to their chores while Dot and Shelby stayed to do inventory of the useful stuff like hand sanitizer and bug spray, and to dry out the clothes.

Shelby looked forward to wearing her own underwear.

Dot reached for a yellow sunflower sweatshirt before Shelby could stop her. Dot looked at the two items that had fallen onto the sand before her.

The first thing she noticed at the boring looking book which almost blended with the color of the sand. “Shame and Attachment Loss: The Practical Work of Reparative Therapy” the book read on the front cover. Dot had known for a long time the kind of business Dave Goodkind was in. Her father had sat her down and explained exactly why the man was wrong and to never believe people like him. Dot wasn’t gay, not even for Fatin, but she had appreciated the talk and support her father had shown her. She wished that Shelby could have had the same. But the real shock was the clear plastic envelope which held personal official documents.

Was Shelby running away?

The question must have been clear on her face.

“My parents gave me a choice. After Becca’s death…”

“You seemed so fine, at her memorial you acted like you barely even knew her”

“I was in love with her”

Dot nodded. After Shelby and Toni announced their relationship she had figured as much.

“That’s heavy” Dot replied.

“I kept it together somewhat, but my parents knew. My mom didn’t want to send me to conversion therapy right away but after an incident at home and the fact that I’d turn 18 over the summer, they agreed to send me to Hawaii with this book as homework. If I decided to put in the work and go to the camp in Georgia willingly, they’d let me stay as part of the family, if not I was given all of my personal documents and exiled… the choice is mine” Shelby said sadly.

Dot surprised both of them when she reached over and pulled Shelby into her arms.

She didn’t know what to say, didn’t know which words could make Shelby’s situation less fucked up, but as Shelby returned the hug, she realized that maybe they didn’t need words. 

Their moment was interrupted by laughter from the beach where Rachel and Toni had Fatin by the arms and legs and were threatening to throw her into a wave.

By nighttime it was Toni’s turn to watch the fire, which meant that Shelby would stay awake with her for a while. They sat in comfortable silence as the girls slept.

“Toni?” Shelby spoke in a low voice.

“Yeah?”

“I’ve got something for you, I found it in my suitcase”

“Babe you know you don’t have to give me anything right”

“I know but I want to” Shelby said as she pulled out an old jewelry box.

Toni tentatively opened the lit to find a gold sunflower necklace inside.

“My grandma gave it to me for my confirmation. When sunflowers can’t find the sun, they face each other and I know it’s cheesy but I want you to know that I’m here for you, that I’m in this and it wont be easy, I’m not easy, but when it’s hard and we can’t find the sun I hope that we can always find each other” Shelby said, willing Toni to understand how hard she was trying to the person Toni deserved.

“I love you” It seemed so small compared to Shelby’s small speech. But they were all the words she had, and God she meant them.

“I love you” Shelby said back, giving her girlfriend a quick kiss before moving the help her with the necklace.

As the blonde fastened the clasp on the gold chain, it felt like an unspoken promise. 


End file.
